11:7
“Honey, I’m home!” Gwen cried. Or didn’t cry. Or projected?
“Hi.” Prairie’s voice came from everywhere and nowhere and then settled in a space next to Gwen. Gwen looked down and through her arm.
Through her arm?! Gulp.
Uh, did she gulp or say gulp or project gulp or— She wasn’t exactly sure she had a mouth. Or a face. Or– This was just bug nuts caca.
Her heart raced in her chest. Not chest. No. The racing was definitely in a chest. She looked down and watched as her chest resolved from something kind of gelatinous and sort of transparent and took on substance until it settled into a feeling that was definitely a chest and definitely hers.
She was pretty sure she was babbling.
“You are babbling.” Prairie resolved from the cotton candy cloudy uncertainty next to Gwen. She looked solid but there was a faint bright line around her, like a heated filament glowing hot pink.
“We made it.” Gwen squeezed her fingers around Prairie’s solid-feeling ones.
“We did.”
“What do we do now?”
“Now.” Prairie paused and looked at her abdomen. “You should come out,” she said to her belly. Gwen’s eyes narrowed but before she could question Prairie’s actions, there was a ripple in the weird whatever that passed for air in this plane and then a three-headed Kirby stood, legs braced on Prairie’s other side.
It was a testament to the weirdness that had become their lives that Gwen didn’t even blink at the addition to their party, just nodded her head to each head in turn. “One. Bunny. Hello.”
“Hello!” Hello bellowed.
“Hello,” Bunny repeated in a softer tone. “Bunny?”
Prairie’s mouth curved. “No bunny. But we do need to find something.”
“Bunny finds things! Good! Such things!”
“That Bunny does.” Prairie smiled her praise to Bunny’s head then turned to One’s. “There is a missing woman named Bria. We need to find her Spirit’s Rest.”
One nodded. “I have been following through our connection. We will find her. And bring her home. Faith, my One.”
Prairie rested her hand on One’s head. Bunny’s head turned, nose pointing off into the fuzzy, cotton candy distance. “Yip! Yippee! Yip!”
Kirby’s shared body strained in that direction, torquing its legs. Rather than tumble he seemed to collectively decide to give in to Bunny’s excitement and move that way. Gwen and Prairie had to scramble to follow.
The weirdly thick air-like substance gave at their passing. It plastered against Gwen’s face, feeling kind of like when you pressed against plastic wrap and it conformed to your fingers. It wasn’t utterly unpleasant but it wasn’t exactly a top ten thing she’d want to repeat.
Initially her chest heaved in instinctive panic, her brain saying she couldn’t breathe! But then her sense argued she wasn’t breathing. She didn’t have a body. Shut up, Brain! You don’t actually exist. Probably.
She got to the shutting up and just went with the motion of her body-not-body as she and Prairie chased through the pastel world. Her fingers tightened on Prairie’s. Something told her to keep the grip.
The heavy weight of Prairie’s soul fragment – she didn’t know what else to think of it as. Prairie’s emotions? Nah, Prairie’s soul – sat in the region between Gwen’s ribs and her heart, its presence determined. Still the grip of finger on finger felt more than symbolic. It felt necessary. Like many things to do with her Magick and, really, her life Gwen didn’t question it.
The best Faith was blind. And she was, for certain, Faithful.
Lead by Bunny Kirby careened through the pastel landscape. Shortly a series of domes appeared on the horizon and with the weird way of travel in this place they were upon them within mikros. They dodged this way and that, avoiding the domes which were scattered haphazardly about, their formations like the clusters of mushrooms in the forest.
Prairie trailed her hand over the surface of the domes closest to she and Gwen’s path and their cloudy surfaces cleared at the touch, revealing the hazy forms of people sleeping within. Each dome had a cord coming out of somewhere in its top. Not quite centered and a little different for each one. The cords went upwards, disappearing into the pastel fog hanging low overhead. As soon as Prairie’s hand moved on the surfaces clouded once more.
Chasing after Kirby they had to pass at least forty domes.
“There are that many people in comas?” Gwen panted out next to Prairie.
“In the whole world? Maybe. But these aren’t just comas. They can also be sleepers, if they fall into a deep sleep.”
“You hang out in death when you are asleep?”
Prairie shrugged, lifting their joined hands slightly. “I’m not sure Spiritus is exactly death. I think it encompasses death but it’s deeper than that. Oh, look. Kirby is slowing down!”
With this Prairie surged forward, coming to an abrupt stop next to a dome where Kirby stood with Bunny’s nose pressed to it. Before Prairie could lay a hand on the dome to clear its surface One’s head reared back and he focused on the cord coming out of the top of the dome. His attention drew Gwen’s to it and to the way it suddenly jerked and began moving away from the top of the dome and to the side furthest from where she, Kirby, and Prairie stood.
“What’s going on?”
Prairie looked at Gwen with wide eyes even as she pressed her hand to the surface of the dome to clear it. “I don’t know! Maybe she’s waking? I’ve never been here when someone has come out of a coma.”
“That doesn’t seem good. I mean coming out of a coma, good. Coming out while her body is probably in the hands of The Three, bad.”
“Coming out of the coma may not be good either.” Prairie stared intently at the dome’s surface as it went from opaque to transparent. Inside the dome the hazy figure was not lying gently in what appeared to be slumber. Instead it was being pulled upwards, a cord coming from its center. As they watched the form was yanked forward and plastered against the far side of the dome.
Prairie lunged around the dome and wrapped her free hand around the cord. She planted her feet and fell backwards towards the dome, using the impetus to yank the cord. It continued to slide through her fist, drawing a cry from her.
“Here,” Gwen shifted her free hand to grab Prairie’s shoulder then released Prairie’s hand from her tight grip. “Use both hands.”
Immediately Prairie put her other hand around the cord. Her knuckles grew white as she tightened her hold. The cord just kept slipping through.
Prairie took her gaze from the cord to pin Gwen with a stricken look. “This feels bad. We have to stop this?”
“How?”
Prairie bit her lip and shook her head. “Give me a moment. I—I don’t know.” She shifted her gaze to the cord. Tightened her hands. Winced as it continued to slide through her grip. In a slow, tentative tone she offered, “I may be able to anchor to the cord. Then when it’s pulled we will be too.”
Gwen grimaced. “Is that a good idea?”
“I don’t have another one!” Gwen dropped back a little at Prairie’s snap. It was not normal for the smaller woman and in Gwen’s chest she felt a strong sense of despair join the ball that was her anchor to Prairie’s emotions.
Gwen searched Prairie’s wide eyes for a mikro then gave a decisive nod. “Do it. I’m not sure if its good or bad that Bria’s soul is leaving here and going back to her body, but our goal is to find her so if her soul is going back to her body then following it would bring us to her body. Right?”
Prairie nodded. “That feels right.”
“Are we in danger if we go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is there a way to make this sneaky?”
“I don’t know. But,” Prairie pressed her lips together, “probably not. I just don’t know.”
“Our choices are use this advantage to find her or let her go. I’m not liking the second option.”
“Me neither.”
“Dempsey’s cards could work. They haven’t failed yet. But, what if they do and we lose her? We came here to try to find her. Doesn’t make sense to stop now if there’s a chance. So, yeah,” Gwen gave Prairie an encouraging smile then for good measure pulsed positivity into the Prairie core inside of her. “Do your thing. You’ve got this!”
“I’ve got this,” Prairie said in a quiet voice, then focused her attention on the cord sliding through her hands. Then she shifted one hand to the surface of the dome Bria’s spirit form was squashed against. “Release.”
With that word from Prairie the surface of the dome wobbled and then went misty and Bria’s spirit slipped through it. As it started to flow towards Prairie, she wrapped her arms around the amorphous shape. Driven by instinct Gwen wrapped her own arms around Prairie. Kirby darted in from the side and Hello latched their teeth into the bottom of Prairie’s jacket.
Connected in this way the four of them started moving. First their feet skidded across the spongy ground, failing to find purchase. Then they were lifted and were flying on the end of Bria’s spirit cord, spinning and spiraling off into the pastel fog.
Nausea churned in Gwen’s gut. She closed her eyes and focused on holding tight to Prairie both with her arms and her Magick. It was a challenge with the force of their momentum, but she was damned determined to not let go. There was a tug on her jacket which she suspected was either One or Bunny grabbing her coat, but she wasn’t opening her eyes to confirm.
There was an intense pressure on her back. Enough it felt like her internal organs were gonna pop. Then, boom, the pressure released and they were falling from the air and landing to bounce on the ground. Gwen felt her arms loosening from the impact. She tightened her hold enough that Prairie cried out softly.
Gwen opened her eyes. The world swam momentarily in her vision then resolved into the view of a dimly lit warehouse. She and Prairie lay on a dusty wooden floor that provided zero cushioning though Prairie, who Gwen had apparently landed on, did provide some. Gwen released her death grip on Prairie and quickly rolled, quiet as she could, to the side. Prairie drew a breath that was loud in the empty space.
“Shh!” Gwen pressed a finger to her lips and shook her head at Prairie. Prairie shifted slightly then nodded.
They lay behind a stack of crates, which may or may not have hidden their entry to the space. Prairie groped her hand over the floor then patted the air in front of her. Her head went on swivel and she searched the dim area.
“Bria!” she mouthed. Gwen looked around like she’d be better able to see the Spirit they’d hitched a ride with. Prairie rose on an elbow and started to stick her head around the crates shielding them.
By some grace they’d landed out of sight. They did not need to mess that up now!
Gwen smacked a hand down on Prairie’s shoulder and pulled her back. She shook her head quickly in the negative. Prairie bit her lip and relaxed back next to Gwen. She pointed at her eyes then made a motion at the crates. Gwen considered a micro then gave a very tentative nod.
“Careful,” she mouthed. Prairie nodded and then rolled very slowly to her side so she could eel over to the crates. Once situated close to them she peeked around the very corner of the stack. Gwen craned her neck, following Prairie’s movements, and holding her breath so she could strain to hear anything from the other side of the crates.
“Well, who are you?”
Gwen jerked and bit back a shriek as a woman’s voice came from behind her. She spun on her ass in that direction, throwing her hands up instinctively when her gaze settled on the figure who had come around the other side of the crates.
The figure was short. Shorter than Prairie and that was saying something considering how petite her friend was. It was a bit hard to tell its features in the dim lighting of the warehouse, especially with light coming from behind her and throwing her shadow towards Gwen.
Not its. Her. That was definitely a female’s voice.
The voice didn’t give away much. It was light with a lift, not quite a lilt where you’d say she had an accent. Very former era housewife who learned to modulate her voice to sound feminine and unthreatening. Which, of course, made Gwen assume she was threatening because d’uh.
Without thinking a mikro Gwen directed her Magick at the woman, going in for a read. Only to recoil when her Magick sucked in a big old gout of something dank like the scent and feel of a long closed-up basement. In a swamp. With a leaking foundation. Bile burned the back of her throat as she scrambled to clear herself from the woman’s energy.
“Oh,” the woman tinkled. “That tickled! A soul worker. How fun.”
The woman clapped her hands like a maniacal cheerleader. Her giggle sent a shiver down Gwen’s spine. She just seemed so delighted. Like Gwen and Prairie’s presence was such a gift. Which—Yeah.
“G!” the woman raised her voice, “We have–” she paused. Her shadowy head cocked in a way that was more reptilian than human, “visitors.”
A male voice came from somewhere to the other side of the crates. “Deal with them, Mary.”
Well, any supposition that it was The Three doing whatever was being done to Bria’s spirit was kinda proven out. Although Mary was a pretty common name and G could be for Guido or Gary or Gregorovich. Didn’t have to be Geppetto. But what were the chances?
Prairie rolled away from the crates and towards Gwen. She rose up on her knees, facing the shadowy woman. “We don’t want any trouble.”
A soft chuckle came from the woman. “I do.”
The shadow shifted and a rush of cold speared Gwen. Prairie gasped next to Gwen and threw up a hand in the shadow woman’s direction.
“Huh,” the woman said. Another rush of cold went through Gwen. Gwen patted at her chest, then reached around and rubbed her back. It felt kind of weird being as she didn’t really have a chest or a back. She had something like a chest or a back but the surface felt a bit spongy.
Reaching quickly to her side, she poked Prairie’s thigh. Her finger sunk in a bit before being stopped then bouncing back.
“Prairie?” She shot in an aside. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure,” was all Prairie got out before there was more movement from the shadowy woman, more energetic movement, and another jolt of cold speared Gwen.
“Can we get out of here?”
“We haven’t figured out where here is!” Prairie whispered.
“I don’t really care,” Gwen whispered back. Another jolt of cold pierced her. “This is messed up.”
“Allie?” the woman raised her voice again. “I need help.”
A muffled curse came from somewhere in the warehouse. “Can’t you handle it?”
“I seem to have exhausted my reserve,” the woman said in that sickly sweet voice.
“Fine!” There was a long pause. “There isn’t much to work with in here. Here.”
Claws, a lot of claws, sounded on the floor. From around the wall of crates, a flood of mice poured. They came at Prairie and Gwen so fast Gwen barely had time to flinch. And then they went right through them. Right. Through. Them.
“What are you?” The shadow woman’s voice rose to a sound most likely only dogs could hear. Only Gwen did hear it so that was a bit of an exaggeration. But it was high. “Fine. I guess I have to do this the hard way.”
Didn’t take more than a mikro to figure out what she defined as the hard way as the woman pulled a long dagger out of somewhere and lunged towards Gwen. As she closed the distance, her face came into focus. Or, rather, the featureless black mask she wore came into focus. Along with a big hoodie that swallowed her frame.
“No!” Prairie jumped up, throwing herself into the woman’s path. And then into the woman. Yeah. No. For reals. Into. The. Woman. Who stopped her lunge and kinda jittered in place.
Kirby came flying around the corner of the crate wall, then skidded to a halt with what could only be a look of confusion on all three faces.
“My One?” One asked
“Hello!” Hello howled.
“Kirby,” the voice coming from the woman was not high. Was not light. Was not that sickly sweet voice that spoke of manipulation. It was Prairie’s voice.
“Pwawie!!!” Bunny wailed.
“Get out!” This time it was the high sickly-sweet voice coming from behind the mask.
The woman’s hand rose towards the mask, the fingers stopping just shy of where it disappeared into the hood of the hoodie. Then the hand shook as it slowly, very slowly pulled back a little. Then it started moving towards the mask again.
“Get out!” The high voice rose on a screech.
“No!” Prairie’s voice this time. The masked face turned to Gwen. “Gwen! Info!”
The dagger in the woman’s hand fell, clattering on the wooden floor. Then the woman’s hand turned in a claw, headed for the mask. Gwen followed the movement. Was she supposed to help unmask the woman? Was that the info she was supposed to get?
She thrust to her feet and lunged for the woman only to be met with a fist to the face. Then another one to her gut. It wasn’t a particularly hard fist to the face. It was an even weaker fist to the gut. Miss Mary didn’t seem to know how to punch. Lucky she’d dropped the dagger. Or Prairie had made her. Because being stabbed didn’t require strength or much technique like a punch did.
Mary’s body jerked backwards and Prairie’s face half emerged from the mask. She turned to look at Gwen.
“Location!” She grunted out, then her face re-merged with Mary’s masked face.
This time Mary’s fist smacked into her own chest. An ‘oof!” jetted out then her clawed hands rose to dig at the air. For a mikro Gwen watched the fight between Prairie and Mary for Mary’s body – or that’s what she was guessing was happening – then she sidled quickly to the side so she could peep around the crates to try to get some location information.
It was just so dim! She could tell it was a warehouse. She could tell there were crates. She knew there were two guys in there somewhere because male voice one and two but no matter how she strained she couldn’t find them. Which of course made her heart hammer hard in her ears. Harder. Which made it harder to hear. Self-defeating heartbeat. Ugh.
Other senses. Other senses. She took a big sniff. It smelled like dust. And now her sinuses were stinging. Ugh again. Wait, that smelled like water? Maybe like water? Or maybe it was the residual touch of Mary’s absolutely basement water rotting vegetation soul? Nah, definitely a smell. In her nose. Not her Magick. Water.
And – did she need to hear to find the other two guys’ location in the building. Magick. D’uh. Taking a deep centering breath she sent her Magick out into the space. Several long mikros and then it brushed up against someone. Or rather someone’s emotions which were very focused. And kind of angry. So, guy number one, whoever that was somewhere over—there to the left and a goodly distance from the crates Gwen was behind. And moving no closer. Great.
A little more Magick and she was able to find the other guy – a pool of calm which was kind of unexpected but she guessed if you were an evil mastermind maybe you didn’t lose your cool when in a situation like this? Who knew. Well, she knew she was losing her cool but she wasn’t an evil mastermind.
And she was getting off course. Guy number one over far enough to the left to not be a problem, maybe. Guy number two somewhere farther to the left which meant even less a problem for Gwen. Good. Good.
Since she didn’t need her ears to find the guys by she could now apply them to listening for any clues. That might be the swish of water against something? Rock? Maybe rock. The swish that was. Rock didn’t sound like anything. And maybe – wait – as she strained to identify the swish a bell or a chime tolled. Ding. Ding. Then it stopped. Two mikros then Ding. Another mikro and ding again. Kind of echoey.
“Out!” Mary’s voice, loud and strident, drew Gwen’s attention just as Mary’s body gave a big jerk and then Prairie stood in front of Mary. Mary lunged at Prairie. Prairie lunged at Mary. Her hand slipped right into Mary’s chest.
Before Prairie could slide in further Mary lunged backwards, smacking her back into the crates which teetered with the force of her movement. Then she slumped against the crates, sliding down them and landing in a heap on the wooden floor. From above her several crates toppled from the top of the wall and fell to land on her. No idea what was in the crates but they made quite a thump when they landed on her. And she didn’t even let out a moan.
Prairie turned to stare at Gwen. Gwen ran towards her. Prairie’s wide eyes looked behind Gwen, causing her to look back to see a bunch of strands flying around the crates at them. “We need to get out of here!”
Sparing the pile of crates with Mary under them one last look, Prairie nodded fiercely and looked around. The strands jetted through the air and speared into Prairie’s back. Then through her, coming out her abdomen. She looked down, eyes wide, then looked around wildly.
“Kirby?”
Kirby came bounding over to her. “My One?”
“How do we get back to our bodies?”
“Leap.”
“Leap?”
“Leap!” Kirby barked this time as the sound of running footsteps approached from the opposite side of the toppling crate wall.
Prairie reached out with one hand and grabbed Gwen’s hand. With the other she grabbed Kirby’s shoulder. And then she leaped away from the crates. The ground fell out from under Gwen’s feet. Her senses went wibble and wobble and everything around her spun. For a mikro everything went black. Then it was pastel cotton candy pink. Then black again.
Gwen felt a tugging and a falling and just like her brain was shifting inside her head. Or maybe it was her soul in her body.
“Again!” Someone shouted. A hand pressed to her chest. Her eyelids jerked up and Dempsey’s face filled her vision from really close. Really close.
“Ahhh!” She kind of mumble-yelled.
“Ahh!” Dempsey jerked back, enough that Gwen could actually see his features and not just some blurred way-too-close amalgamation of them. His hand still remained splayed between her tits. She lifted her head as much as she could and stared at it.
“Hello? Boobs?”
“You died.” Dempsey’s tone was dead serious. Dead. And yet–
“Feel ‘live.” Gwen reached her hand to remove Dempsey’s from her chest but her hand kinda didn’t work. And her fingers didn’t kind of work. And she ended up flicking her own nip.
With her tiny reserve of energy she turned her head to look at Prairie. Prairie’s face was turned to her. Their gazes met. In that silent mikro a whole conversation passed between them.
“You ‘live?”
“’m ‘live. You ‘live?”
“Gotta–”
Look, she didn’t say it was a deep conversation. Just a whole one!
There was a rush of cloth somewhere in the room then the door slammed against the wall and Abe’s voice sounded, “Siobhan! Patti! Kim! Help!”
Footsteps sounded, almost thunderous in the quiet room. Then a hand was pressing gently to Gwen’s cheek and her face was being turned forward so she met Siobhan’s concerned expression.
Muttering under her breath, Siobhan turned to stare at Dempsey.
“What happened?” She snapped.
“Gwen and Prairie went to find Bria’s soul in the Spirit plane. After that, I can’t say. But it’s possible they died for a mikro or three.”
“’Live,” Gwen mumbled.
“So ‘live,” Prairie slurred. Kirby sat at Prairie’s side, Bunny’s head in her lap. Hello lifted their head and warbled “Hello!” in a slightly less energetic tone that was their usual.
Siobhan threw her hands up then snatched two vials off the strap of her bag. She popped the tops and poured the contents into Gwen and Prairie’s mouths. “Swallow.”
Gwen tried. She kinda gargled. Or choked. But the liquid went down. Mostly. Some dribbled out of the side of her mouth. As it flowed down her throat a wave of cool flowed through her. Within a mikro she felt good to swallow so she did.
Bolstered by the healing potion she was able to turn her head to look at Siobhan. And when she formed words they were full words, not some slurred semblance of words. “More.”
Siobhan cocked her head. “More?”
Gwen swirled her free hand. The other remained clasped tight to Prairie’s. “Another. Please.”
Siobhan’s gaze measured her features, then with pursed lips she pulled loose two more vials. Popping the top of one she held it to Gwen’s mouth. Gwen dutifully swallowed before jerking her head towards Prairie. “Prairie too.”
Strength flowed through her, enough that she was able to flex her shoulders and take a big breath. Siobhan shifted to give Prairie the second potion.
Once the vial was emptied into Prairie’s mouth she rocked back on her heels. She shifted her attention between Gwen and Prairie. Then she pushed her palms into her thighs, looked down, took a breath that lifted her shoulders as well as chest before looking up and into Gwen’s stare.
Her lips pursed then she blew a hard breath through her nostrils. “You don’t make choices that can lead to your dying without talking it out first.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “It was a spur of the moment thing. Trust I didn’t plan to die. Or come close. Or whatever.”
Siobhan shifted her attention to Prairie. “I expected more from you.”
Prairie offered Siobhan a wan smile. “I didn’t plan to die either.”
Siobhan threw her hands up. She rolled her eyes then shook her head. “You are both on my list.”
“Your gift giving list?” Gwen asked.
The look Siobhan leveled on Gwen said she was not going to be swayed by humor. Damn. That was Gwen’s best defense! Well that and her charming personality. But mostly humor.
Prairie lowered her gaze and murmured, “It didn’t feel like we were risking ourselves when we made the call.”
Full strength returned to Gwen’s limbs as Siobhan’s potions finished their jobs. It let her wave her hand in a negligent dismissal. “We don’t have time to debate the merits of our decision. We know where Bria is. Or was.”
Dempsey leaned in. “You do?”
Gwen shrugged. “Some.”
“What can you tell us?” Dempsey pressed.
“Smell. Water. Like a river, maybe. Strong enough to smell in a building. Sound. A bell rang. Two times. Pause. One. Pause. One. Uh,” she ticked off points on her fingers, “I think the water was washing against rocks. Or maybe a stone foundation? Something solid that wasn’t wood.”
Prairie closed her free hand on the armrest of her chair and tightened her grip on Gwen’s fingers. “I saw a name on one of the crates that fell on Mary.”
“Mary?” the name burst out of Abe.
Prairie nodded. “Yes. Mary.”
“You saw Mary?” Patti almost yelled.
Prairie nodded again. “Yes. And more. But saw. Yes.”
“More?” Siobhan pressed.
“We may have sort of fought her.”
“Sort of?”
“Yes?”
“Is that a question?”
“No.” Prairie looked down then back up to hold her gaze steady on Siobhan’s probing stare. “We fought her. I fought her. I think I may have possessed her.”
“Possessed her?”
“Sort of?” Prairie bit her lip. “I didn’t plan it and I’ve never done anything like it, but I think my spirit went into her body and we fought.”
“Oh yeah,” Gwen nodded. “You fought. There was punching and everything.” She drew a big breath and looked around the room at the others. “But time is ticking. What did you see on the crate, Prairie?”
“A name. Smythe and Sons? I think?”
“Smythe and Sons is an import export,” Dempsey said. “They have a warehouse down by the docks.”
Gwen leaned forward, pulse rising slightly. “Docks would explain the sound and smell of water!”
“And the bells you heard. Could be canal bells.”
At Gwen’s confused look Dempsey expanded “Signals to, uh, signal directions canal boats are moving in narrow waterways. Like the canals that run along the docks.”
Siobhan slapped her thighs and surged to her feet. She settled her shoulder strap then held a hand out to Gwen. When she pulled Gwen to her feet Prairie, still holding Gwen’s hand, followed to rise to her feet. “Let’s find Ivan and Dan and then head to the docks.” She turned to Dempsey. “You know the warehouse?”
“Not the exact one but I know the row its in.”
“Okay. We have a plan.” Siobhan slanted Gwen a look. “One that doesn’t involve dying.”
“You never know!” Gwen lowered her eyelids. “The day is still young!”
Siobhan sighed and shot Kim an exasperated look. “I blame you for this.”
“Me?” Kim pressed a hand to her chest. “Why me?”
“Because you are a smart a—butt.”
“Didn’t know it was contagious.”
Dempsey shook his head and looked at Abe. “C’mon, kid. Before the stupid spreads worse than it has already.”
Abe nodded hard enough to set their curls flopping. They poked their head out the open doorway, then pulled back to nod. “Coast is clear.”
Prairie looked down at Kirby. She smoothed a gentle hand over Bunny’s head then met One’s gaze. “You should return. I’m not sure Ourton is ready for a three-headed dog just yet.”
One gave Prairie a long stare then nodded. A moment later there was a ripple in the air and the dog seemed to fold in on itself before winking out of existence. Prairie patted her side then smiled before rising to her feet. It was a testament to the power of Siobhan’s Magick that she didn’t sway at all, in fact she seemed as steady as she ever was.
The group cleared the room and headed to the stairs which they took to the first floor. Once there they wandered down the hall towards the direction Ivan and Dan took earlier while following the concierge. They stuck close to the wall farthest from the entry area and walked with purpose, projecting the air of people who were supposed to be there.
As they neared the end of the hall they saw Dan leaning against the wall near an open door. From within the room Ivan’s voice rumbled, the words indistinct. Dan acknowledged their approach with an upward lift of his chin and nodded when Dempsey made a whirling motion with a lifted finger.
Dan poked his head into the room and Ivan’s rumble came to a halt. A mikro later he came strolling out of the space then turned back to say, “I appreciate your time. And the information.”
The charming smile curving his lips slid away as he stepped into the hall and pulled the door closed behind him. “What did you find?”
“Smythe and Sons warehouse. You know it?”
Ivan nodded. “It’s in the next street over from Ben’s. That the place?”
“We think so,” Prairie replied.
Ivan frowned. “How did you find it?”
“That isn’t important.” Prairie waved a hand. “We did.”
Ivan’s frown deepened. “There’s a story you aren’t telling me.” He looked at Dan. “Us.”
“No time!” Gwen took two giant steps in and looped her hand in the crook of Ivan’s arm. “Gotta go! Time’s a tickin’.”
Ivan turned as Gwen pulled him forward, his gaze lingering on Prairie. Gwen tugged at his arm, urging him forward. Ivan’s feet dragged for another mikro then he gave in to Gwen’s insistence and strode down the hall next to her and then out the door and into the bright sunshine.
Enter The Woods 